Jan. 24, 2006
Auburn, Ala. - Kentucky used a 17-4 run midway through the second half and Joe Crawford matched his career high with 23 points, as the Wildcats dealt Auburn a 71-62 loss on Tuesday at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.
Four players scored in double figures for Auburn (8-8, 0-5), led by Quantez Robertson's career-high 14 points to go along with his five assists, but it was not enough as Kentucky (13-6, 3-2) topped the Tigers for the 21st time in the last 22 meetings.
"The team battled hard, but we just weren't good enough tonight," head coach Jeff Lebo said. "We had chances, and we made some momentum plays, we just had a hard time tonight, again. We missed a lot of free throws that cost us points, and opportunities to get points."
With Kentucky leading 39-28 at the half, the Wildcats jumped out of the gate in the second half with five straight points to take a 16-point lead, but The Tigers responded with a 15-5 run to cut the Wildcats' lead to single digits at 49-43 with 12:41 to play.
The Tigers' charge was quickly neutralized when they committed six fouls in a span of a little over two minutes, which helped to trigger a 17-4 run by the Wildcats and enabled Kentucky to extend its lead to 18 (66-48) - its largest of the game - with 5:27 to play. The Wildcats capped their run with six straight points by Rajon Rondo, who was able to breakdown the Tigers' defense for three layups.
Joining Robertson in double figures were Ronny LeMelle with 13 points, Rasheem Barrett with 12 points and Frank Tolbert with 11. Barrett scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half and finished 4-of-9 from the field. Robertson scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, as he played the entire 40 minutes in the game for the fourth time in the last five games. Josh Dollard led the Tigers with eight rebounds, while scoring six points.
One game after committing a season-high 23 turnovers in a loss to Arkansas, Auburn committed just five turnovers in the second half after committing 12 turnovers in the first half. For the game, the Wildcats outscored the Tigers 25-16 off of turnovers.
At the half, Rasheem Barrett led all scorers with 10 points, while connecting on 3-of-5 three-point attempts. Auburn shot 50 percent in the first half on 10-of-20 shooting.
Kentucky's Joe Crawford paced the Wildcats with nine points on 3-of-3 from beyond the arc. Kentucky shot 53.6 percent from the floor in the first half on 15-of-28 shooting.
With the game knotted at six with 15:07 remaining in the first half, Kentucky went on a 9-2 run to open up a 15-8 lead.
Both teams came out slow with Auburn committing four turnovers in the first four minutes and Kentucky committing two.
Auburn returns to the hardwood on Saturday when they host Georgia at 2 p.m. at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.